Can you imagine how well received Osama Bin Laden might have been had he converted to Christianity, during his lifetime? How well might that man have been accepted as a fellow brother in your church? Sadly, there are those in the church who find it difficult to believe that the Lord is able, or even willing, to change a notoriously wicked individual, after their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Our natural tendency is to believe that the individual professes faith in Christ for personal gain and that their conversion is not genuine. Consequently, we often treat such individuals as false converts; relating to them as if they'd never been delivered from their former behavior.
The same holds true for "baby" Christians who mature in the Lord over a span of time. They may have been delivered from the sin that so easily beset them, when they were younger in the Lord. However, we often treat them as if they will respond to the same temptations, just as they did prior to their deliverance. We conveniently "forget" that God is a Deliverer!
Paul did not meet with any of the apostles immediately following his conversion, but went to Arabia. He went to Jerusalem three (3) years after he was converted and received the Lord's call on his life. The Jewish believers and apostles did not have the opportunity to treat Paul as an enemy of the cross because he distanced himself from them. Perhaps, after Paul had spent all those years in Arabia, the likelihood that his conversion was seemed more genuine to his fellow believers. The text records that they were so convinced of Paul's conversion, that the Jewish believers "praised God because of him."
How have you changed since your profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord delivers every believer from many of the sins that bound them, prior to conversion. However, the Lord may not deliver us from all our sins, immediately upon conversion. Instead, the Lord (for whatever reason) grants deliverance from certain sins, over time.
More often than not, there are those in the church who will declare a conversion to be false because the Lord did not deliver the professing believer from every one of their sins immediately. Instead of attributing the sinful behavior of a spiritual "babe" to spiritual immaturity, we tend to believe that they were never really saved in the first place. This is unfortunate for the church and for the spiritually immature.
Just like newborn babies, spiritual "babes" have everything within that they will need to grow into a fully functioning spiritual adult. Yet, too many in the church want to "throw the baby out with the bath water" when (s)he inevitably messes up and falters in her/his faith.
The "good news" is that the Lord has promised us that "He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it." The day will come when we will praise God because of those spiritual "babes" who grow up into their full stature in Christ.
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Excellent post Roxanne! So very topical and means a lot to me. There is a difference between God and even the most devout of believers. God forgives, whereas sometimes even the 'nicest' Christians can be filled with unforgiveness. Long-standing Christians no doubt can view those who recently converted with suspicion, and even dare-I-say-it, with a hint of jealously too! What happens if God has picked a former drug-dealer or Hells Angel or IRA man to be a Christian, even though that person's life before conversion was mired in violence, chaos and trouble of all kinds? Yes, we might have misgivings, but it is God's place to choose who He may. We are ALL misfits until God in His mercy calls us to Him. I was the consummate sinner before I really turned my life over to Jesus and even now, though I am a dyed-in-the-wool Christian, I still have issues I struggle with. Most Christians don't become perfect or converted overnight, for many of us 'conversion' might take place throughout our whole lives. Great post.
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